In 1975, film theorist Laura Mulvey coined the “male gaze” — the idea that women on screen exist as erotic objects while men move the story forward. The camera looks at women. Male characters look at women. And, eventually, women learn to look at themselves the same way.

Flash-forward 50 years, where TikTok has basically become the new silver screen, and women are renegotiating their relationship to desirability, using beauty as the battleground. Enter: the “male gaze versus female gaze” makeup trend.

“Male Gaze” Vs. “Female Gaze” Makeup

On social media, the “male gaze” has left academia and morphed into shorthand for the “girl-next-door” aesthetic — soft, clean, and innocently earnest.

A recent psychology study found that men perceive the “peak” level of attractiveness as about 40%

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